Classic modern travels back to the 60s and 70s through the work of design team C&C Holmgren

Industrial, product and graphic design duo Christel & Christer Holmgren, better known as C&C Holmgren, were born in Vienna and Malmö respectively, and studied design in their Austrian and Swedish homelands before moving to Denmark in the 1960s.

Both undertook work for Holmegaard glassworks during this period, and in 1971 they set up a design studio together in Naestved, Denmark, from where they began undertaking commissions for many other Danish and international companies.

In 1973 to 1974, C&C Holmgren designed a range of stylish and practical cast-iron candleholders (two of which are pictured here, left and above right) for Copenhagen's prestigious luxury goods store Illums Bolighus. The candleholders were produced on a fully automatic patented moulding machine called Disa Matic, known worldwide in the iron casting industry. This allowed the candleholders to be produced at a relatively low price per article, and made them accessible to a wide audience. The holder pictured top right has a diameter of 8.5cm and a height of 8.25cm, and can be used either way up.

Among the Holmgrens' work for Holmegaard was the Holmegaard neck glass designed by Christer Holmgren. The glass was intended to be hung around the neck on its leather thong, providing the wearer with "a third hand" and leaving the others free "to smoke, eat, shake hands - or even hold another drink". With its mix of innocence and decadence, the neck glass and its packaging (pictured right) is an iconic item, very much a product of its time, reflecting the values, aspirations and culture of the late 1960s through the early to mid 1970s.

In addition to their designs in glass and cast iron mentioned above, C&C Holmgren have also worked in a broad range of other media including porcelain and plastics (see for example the spatula, pictured left, for Rosti).

Other products from the Holmgren team have included household articles, toys, graphics and specialised items for disabled people.

The Holmgrens still work from their Naestved studio today, and in the decades they have been based there they have won a number of design awards and taken part in exhibitions both nationally and internationally.

See also

C&C Holmgren cast iron candleholder at classic modern

More classic modern spotlight profiles of designers and manufacturers

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